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A month and a half after election, big question in D.C. salons: Can Clinton hold on? Times-Mirror poll shows 66 per cent of Dems hoping for ‘96 primary challenger to Prez. “In 1996, the economy will not be as good, the President will be on the ballot, and we could have a wipeout,” says Dem. consultant Ted Van Dyck. Van Dyck told Washington Times correspondent Don Lambro he’s receiving “dozens of calls” from other Dems thanking him for candor. Clinton in “Et tu, Brute” mood after comment by Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D., Colo.): “It’s been a very bad last year and a half’ and Prez might just let VP Gore run. Also, ultra-liberal, ever-apoplectic New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis cites Administration’s “weakness” and “vacuity,” calls it “empty of vision,” “without a design,” and describes Clinton as “a dwindling haunting presence in the White House.” … A factor in such speculation: Democratic Party’s postelection debt is $5 million—five times greater than in three prior midterm elections. . . . Bigger factor: Washington insiders realize John Dean-like implications of former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell’s plea bargain with Whitewater Special Counsel Kenneth Starr. A Rose Law Firm honcho with Hillary in Little Rock days when both were enmeshed in Whitewater—Madison Guaranty dealings, Hubbell would have knowledge of any White House attempts to influence Arkansas U.S. Attorney and federal Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) investigations into wrongdoing by S&L. Most startling recent disclosure: columnist Bob Tyrrell reports Hubbell’s fraudulent bills to RTC in Eighties were approved by RTC official April Breslaw, who has acknowledged this “prior relation.” Breslaw is RTC official who told RTC investigators to leave Clinton tie to Madison out of probe. RTC chief Jack Ryan—who looked like man with much on his conscience during Whitewater hearings last summer—may want to unburden himself to new Senate Banking Chairman Alfonse D’Amato (R., N.Y.) and new House Banking Chairman Jim Leach (R., Iowa) before next round of hearings.
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